2017-2018 BRAZILIAN WOMEN’S SUPERLIGA

Sesc/RJ beat Hinode/Barueri in a game that pitted head coaches that have between them 10 Olympic medals: José Roberto Guimarães (3 gold medals) and Bernadinho (2 golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronze medals). The game is even more interesting due to the big rivalry between both coaches, who have always coached Brazil’s best women’s teams through the years and met in many tournament finals.

Team USA Watch

Nicole Fawcett had a very effective offensive game this week, hitting 11/19 (58%) and adding ace en route to 12 points. She is getting better and better with each round. Meanwhile, Destinee Hooker did not dress up for Minas‘ game.

Recaps

It wasn’t a good week to be a Superliga host, as the home teams lost all but one of the round’s games.

BRB/Brasília beat Sesi/SP (20/25 21/25 19/25) behind Maria Luisa‘s (Malu) 15 points, including an ace and 3 blocks. Domingas Araujo had 13 points in the losing effort. Brasília out-blocked Sesi 13 to 2 in the game, holding Sesi to a 31% hitting percentage. It is a good thing Brasília‘s defensive game was on point, allowing it to pull off the win even though it had 27 errors to Sesi‘s 18.

Camponesa/Minas beat Esporte Clube Pinheiros 3-0 (19/25 21/25 23/25) behind Mara Leão‘s 11 points on 6/9 hitting and 5 blocks. Bruna Honório had 11 points in the losing effort. Minas did not commit a single reception error for the game, which is very rare at this level of play. It was gifted 25 points from errors from its opponent.

Even though Sesc’s dominating win against Barueri was special, it won’t change both team’s situation in the standings on the long run. Brasília‘s win over direct opponents Sesi on the other hand, all but cleared Brasília from its relegation risk. In the beginning of the season, Brasilia was one of the clear favorites to finish last in the competition, but coach Sérgio Negrão has assured up until now that this won’t be the case.

Amanda, whose attacking power was always criticized by the volleyball media, was during years a service specialist and kind of good luck charm for Bernadinho’s Rio team that won many league titles. When she finally chose to leave the team, many people wondered if she could be more than that. Up until now she is proving all her doubters wrong, performing greatly from the attack line, as well as in all other aspects of the game. This week she led Uberlândia to a win with an effective 13/23 (57%) hitting performance that included 2 blocks en route to 15 points in 3 sets.